A-bomb survivors to attend Obama’s Hiroshima memorial

TOKYO – Survivors of the American nuclear bombingof Hiroshima will be present when US President Barack Obama lays a wreath atground zero this week, reports said ttoday.

Former United States prisoners of war captured by the Japanese will alsoattend the event, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, with US officials hoping theirpresence will remove any impression it is an apology.

Obama will offer a floral tribute and make comments in front of a cenotaphfor atomic bomb victims on Friday, becoming the first sitting US president tovisit the city.

Earlier this week, he told Japanese television he will not say sorry forthe bombing.

American airmen launched the world’s first atomic strike when they bombedHiroshima on August 6, 1945, causing the deaths of about 140,000 people.

Tens of thousands were killed by the fireball that the powerful nuclearblast generated, with many more succumbing to injuries or illnesses caused byradiation in the weeks, months and years afterwards.

The southern city of Nagasaki was hit by a second bomb three days later,killing 74,000 people, in one of the final acts of World War II.

The speed, circumstances and repercussions of then US president HarryTruman’s decision remain contentious. In Japan, perhaps a majority believe themass bombing of civilians was unnecessary and may even have been a crime.

Many Americans believe that it avoided an even bloodier ground invasion ofJapan toward the end of World War II.